Badges and pin-attaching means therefor



April 17, 1962 L. w. ROSEN BADGES AND PIN-ATTACHING MEANS THEREFOR Filed Feb. 13, 1961 Filed Feb. 13, 1%61, Ser. No. 88,711 4 Claims. (Cl. ill-1.5)

My invention is designed as a further improvement on the device disclosed in US. Letters Patent No. 2,930,154, issued to me on March 29, 1960, relating primarily to a badge conventionally known as an identification bar, fashioned out of a transparent sheet of thin resilient material such as Celluloid or the like, and to the employment of the common pin in connection therewith.

The main feature of the instant device relates to a more convenient means than that shown in said earlier patent of manually manipulating said pin through the sliding operation as there indicated for locking and unlocking the same in respectively securing and later removing said badge on to and from a garment. The question of such convenience brings to mind, for instance, a possible annoyance to some women, when utilizing such earlier device, in liberating the pinhead from its slot for operative purpose for fear of chipping their shapely fingernails, and also the circumstance that many people are not so nimble in delicate operations of this sort, due to the fact that, on the contrary, their fingernails are too short for minute pickups, or else due to their general ineptness.

What is particularly novel about this invention is the fact that the necessity for such pickup of the pinhead for sliding operation of the pin in order, for all practical purposes, to secure the badge on to a garment is entirely dispensed with without sacrifice to the preservation of the use of the common pin in connection with the badge, a readily available item of insignificant cost and universally in large stock at all times.

In addition to the preservation of the use of the common pin while attaining herewith the objective for a more facile operation thereof for the purposes referred to, I have introduced in the instant device two other novelties that will afford much benefit in the assembly and use of the bar. One of them allows sufficient leeway for the speedy insertion, edgewise, of the card in the badge for display purpose, but automatically compensates for such freedom of movement as the same is slid from one end of the bar to the other, so that when fully encased the card is then kept tight and secured against any accidental emergence from its housing. The other benefit permits a double-locking or bolting of the pin, so to speak, at the option of the wearer, with respect to those bars where this dual feature, as disclosed herein, has been incorporated. The first movement in this double-locking feature nevertheless, need be the only movement necessary to keep the bar suificiently secured to a garment for all practical purposes. That movement consists in utilizing the resiliency inherent in the pin proper by applying a sli ht downward pressure against the forward part of the shank in getting the pointed end in and out of the diagonally placed housing in operable alignment therewith, and which housing also acts as a guard against any possible pinpricking because of its complete coverage of the pinpoint when the badge is in locked or double-locked position. It is this first movement, accomplished by a flexing of the pin-end, that substitutes for the sliding operation of the pin as disclosed in said earlier patent. The second movement, where the bar has provision for it, consists of a sliding operation of the pin after the first or flexing movement has been accomplished and effects a so-called bolting of the pin, which then becomes no longer amendable to disengagement merely on such flexing or spring pressure. In effect,

State atent O these two operations, in the sequence here explained, are somewhat akin to the double operation, when so desired, of the spring lock and separate bolt that obtain on many doors, where the second operation is brought to play on a further turn of the key. Such bolting could be resorted to when double security is sought against any violent tampering with the badge when worn, or in other words against the fear of any surreptitious attempt by others to wrest the badge from the garment. As a concomitant to the use of such spring pressure for the manipulation of the pin I have provided novel means by way of a post for limiting the flexing movement thereof beyond the operative need so as not to have it distorted when returned to normal horizontal alignment, and similarly constructed means for having the force of such flexing spent entirely on a pivot posted close to the exit of the archway through which the pinis horizontally channeled so as not to weaken or damage the structure of said mooring through such flexing operation. Another such pivot, in vertical alignment above that first mentioned, is for similar protection of said mooring against accidental flexing in the wrong direction.

In said earlier patent I have enumerated in detail a large array of important benefits attendant on the' use of such common pin on a bar of this kind, as contrasted with the very unsatisfactory results and greater cost that. flow from the use of the conventional crimped pin, which recital is to be considered also germane to this applica-. tion for the sake of brevity herein. Besides, in the in-. stant device, the features thereof permitting, I have followed the kind of construction which provides merely an inturned tab at the top and bottom of the front and only: panel, rather than another full panel in the rear together with an inturned tab for keeping both panels in parallel alignment. This demonstrated saving in sheet material could not be resorted to in badges where crimped pins; are employed, because the mooring there does require full-sized dual panels plus a super-tab in order to steady that kind of pin. It is apparent, as a corollary, that the feasibility of aligning this common pin in steady and un shakable position on a narrow strip or tab at the upper" margin of the bar leaves unobstructed from view prac-' tically the entire rear surface of the bar or of any cardtherein, thereby permitting ready notations or memoranda; or else printed instructions or relevant advertising mat-' ter, on such back surface for convenient reference for one purpose or another, albeit such inscriptions could equally be placed on a separate card inserted externally in the rear with equal exposure.

Other features of my invention and of the application thereof, and further details of my improvement and of the manner of constructing and operating the same will be set forth as this application proceeds. It will be understood, however, that said invention is not limited to this particular disclosure, but is susceptible of many changes and modifications which may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention.

For a more particular description of my invention, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which FIG. 1 is a rear elevation of my improved device where fashioned for attachement of the badge just through spring operation of the pin, showing the latter normally aligned in locked position and, through broken lines concerning same, its ultimate position when the shank is pressed downwardly to unlocked position.

FIG. 2 is a rear elevation of my improved device where fashioned not only for attachment of the badge through spring operation of the pin but also for optionally bolting the same in the wake of said first operation, showing the pin normally aligned in locked position and, through broken lines concerning same, the ultimate position thereof after the shank has been downwardly pressed to unlocked position without any attempt to proceed to such bolting operation.

FIG. 3 is a rear elevation of my improved device in fragmentary form, broken away sufficiently to show by illustration how a card can be freely introduced edgewise into the housing of the badge because of the latitude in space between the margins of the upper and lower folds and yet finally brought to a snug or tight position within such housing by an indent preferably into the upper margin beyond the port of entry at either end of the badge.

FIG. 4 is a view in horizontal cross section, taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 5 is a view in vertical cross section, taken along the line 55 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary view, in perspective, showing a length of the pointed end of the pin beneath and beyond the domed locking chamber on the upper tab of the bar as it would appear when brought to bolted position as illustrated by the horizontal path of the pin in FIG. 7. The instant figure may also serve as a guide concerning the relative position of the pin with respect to said chamher as shown in its normal alignment in FIGS. 1 and 2 were it to depict instead the reach of the pointed end of the pin up to the opposite wall of said chamber and not beyond it.

FIG. 7 is a rear elevation of my improved device, fashioned like the structure in FIG. 2, but showing the pinhead slid from its position in the outer slot, as indicated in the latter figure, a distance sufiicient for the limited entry of the pinhead edgewise into the adjacent or inner slot and the resultant bolting of the pin by its reach then beyond the opposite wall of the domed locking chamber, and showing also through broken lines the extent to which the pin may he accidentally flexed and yet kept in such bolted position by the barricade afforded by the lower wall of said chamber.

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary view of a blank sheet of material used in forming the bar with my regional improvementsthereon for cooperation with a common pin in the manner and for the purposes disclosed, showing in the main the nature and location of the concavity adapted for the ultimate dent, as shown in FIG. 3, the same being equidistantly astride the position of the upper fold in the baras indicated by the broken horizontal line and thereby in position to form such dent at the upper margin of the badge, upon a folding of said material rearwardly along the position of said line, the said concavity being depressed in reverse direction to the other drawn out parts.

FIG. 9 is a view of a vertical cross section of the archway shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 7, with the pin shank therethrough and looking in the direction of the domed locking chamber.

Throughout the drawings, similar reference characters indicate similar parts.

Proceeding with my description, in this improved device the badge or bar proper consists of a thin sheet of transparent and resilient material where also permanent depressions along its surface can be drawn out of it for operative purposes. The badge itself is fashioned out of a rectangular sheet of such material, creased inwardly in parallel folds at the top and bottom to provide the upper tab 1 and the lower and preferably narrower tab 2, both in confrontation with the rear surface of the panel 3 for housing such displays as the card 4 therebetween for a show of the same through the front of said panel.

0n the upper tab 1 is mounted a common pin such as is extensively used in households and elsewhere for sundry purposes, composed of the head 5 and the shank 6. The said pin is operativcly carried in a horizontal course, preferably parallel with the horizontal edges of the badge, through the archway 7, having an aperture at each end thereof drawn out of said material to such proportion as to provide a snug channel for the passage of the pin shank therethrough along the course aforementioned. So as not to expose the structure of said archway or the edges of said terminal a ertures to any strain or damage that might be transmitted or caused to it when the pointed end of the pin is operatively spring pressed out of its horizontal alignment, I have provided the uniform and miniature pivots 8 and 9, consisting of two small hollow mounds drawn upwardly from said material and vertically aligned near the exit of said archway, with a gap between said mounds sufficient only for the shank of said pin to travel freely therethrough in its horizontal course, snugly flanked above and below by said pivots, and which pivots serve at all times as a fulcrum upon a flexing of the pointed end of said pin and thus as a means of intercepting and fully absorbing all force that might be spent on said archway and principally at its outlet in the course of such flexing. A post 10 similar to such pivot is stationed near the bottom edge of the tab 1, in the position shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 7, as a stop for preventing an excess flexing of the pin shank and a possible distortion of same to the extent of thereupon making it useless for normal alignment along a horizontal course, in the direction of the mound having the domed mound 11. This chamber, substantially semicircular in design and also drawn out of said material, has the full opening 12 along its diametrical side, which side is diagonally oriented with relation to the path of the pin and is of such height and so aligned as slightly to tower above the terminal end of the pin that passes through or beyond said chamber the distance provided for interlocking the pin to either extent hereunder. This diagonal side in turn is the means of affording an escape to coverage by said chamber of the pointed end of the pin upon the exertion of sutiicient downward pressure against the forward por' tion of the pin shank it originally in the normal position as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, this because of the gradually increasing distance, occasioned by such slant, between the entrance to said chamber and said pin end as the latter is brought to the final position as illustrated by the broken lines concerning same in the last mentioned figures, such increase in distance also being gradually augmented by the pivotal action of the pin shank off the pivot or fulcrum 9 when so pressed to lower position. When brought to such lower position the pin can then be held free of any interlocking engagement through said chamber, either for the purpose of the disengagement of, or of the initial positioning of parts for securing, the badge from or onto a garment. All that is then required is a minute diversion by hand of the pin end, so that in its return under tension to horizontal position it will ride on top of the dome of said chamber rather than underneath it. On the other hand, the interlocking of the pin through said chamber is not escaped upon such downward pressure if the pin is in the bolted position as shown in the model in FIG. 7. As illustrated by the broken lines relative to the pin shank in that figure, the downward flexing of the pin-end will cause it to move merely to the bottom of chamber 11, with no avenue of escape from such interlocking engagement in view of the fact that the pin shank in said instance projects too far through said chamber, to a position as more graphically shown in FIG. 6. It is to be noted from the various figures and illustrations thereon that, whether spring locked or bolted, the pointed end of the pin in either case is completely shielded from the outside and thus the danger of pinpricking from manual contact therewith is wholly avoided. So far as the bolting operation is concerned, the extended horizontal movement of the pin in such event merely transfers the pinpoint from beneath the dome of said chamber to beneath the layer of the tab 1, the rear wall of said chamber being sufliciently tapered to the under-surface of said layer to facilitate that passage.

To prevent the pin from any backward movement after it has been mounted for operative purpose, the rectangular slot 13 is provided wherein that portion of the head of the pin which edgewise snaps into it under tension is in turn held backed by the adjacent edge of said slot. To the right of said rectangular slot, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 7, is the arrow-shaped slot 14, pointing in the direction of the slot 13. In a similar way this slot 14 serves as a second backstop against the backward movement of the pin beyond that position, so that when the pin is permanently positioned, either as depicted in the model shown in FIG. 1 through means of such rectangular slot, or in the model shown in FIG. 2 by utilization of said arrow-shaped slot, the locking and unlocking of the pin through merely a flexing of the same could be respectively and uniformly effected. It is only when a bolting, in sequence, is desired of the pin, that the same can be accomplished under the models in FIGS. 2 and 7, by a sliding of the pin in its horizontal alignment from slot 14 to slot 13, whereupon a corresponding length of the pointed end of the pin will reach into and beyond chamber 1 in the manner above explained. The shape of the slot 14 affords in similar fashion a complete backstop to the pinhead by its vertical edge on the right side, while its arrow-shaped edge on the left side, pointing to slot 13, aifords a sort of converging track for guiding said head freely in a ride out of said former slot without the assist of a pickup of the pinhead and merely by pushing the same to slot 13.

While it is felt that any medium such as the display card 4 could be made complementally high enough to fit snugly between the folded edges of tabs 1 and 2 of a given badge, I have provided the slight indent 15, located preferably in central position at the top edge of the badge, designed to make that same card fit even tightly, rather than snugly, and to compensate for the leeway at each end of the badge purposely allowed for free admittance edgewise of that card, though optionally there could be more than one of those dents if so desired. This tightening provision can be fashioned out of the concavity -A, positioned and reversely depressed in relation to the other drawn out parts as shown in FIG. 8, at the time the blank sheet for shaping the badge is folded rearwardly along the broken horizontal line 16 shown in that figure, and which fold is effected primarily to form the upper tab 1 of the badge; or else this dent can be later formed, if wanted, by a sort of notch dug crosswise into the top edge of the badge after fully formed usually in long strips of undivided units, and which notching could be effected along with the same operation for slicing such strips into individual units.

I might here add that, in the same stampingroperation for efiecting the other parts, the slots 13 and 14 could be upwardly bellied a very slight distance so as to insure suflicient under-space in their region between the opposing inner surfaces of tab 1 and panel 3, for permitting the occupied edge of the pinhead in either slot to project downwardly therethrough to the maximum depth permitted by its abutting shank.

It is quite obvious that the pin-attaching means as disclosed on the upper tab 1 need not necessarily be in conjunction with the type of badge display depicted herein, but that it could be independently mounted, as a selfcontained and fully operating unit in the manner aforementioned, on any bar of any shape composed preferably of a thin sheet of resilient material bearing any other form of display, whether or not wholly integrated therewith.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that it is not restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures that come within the scope of the annexed claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a badge consisting of a thin sheet of resilient material having indicia thereon for display purpose and whereon there is mounted a flexible common pin wovenly inserted in horizontal alignment respectively into and out of a complemental aperture at each end of a guiding archway for reach of its pointed end to a predetermined position secured by the abutment of its head against the edges of an outer slot at one end of said alignment, a hollow and substantially semi-circular mound drawn upwardly out of said material at the opposite end of said alignment whose diametrical side is entirely open and of sufl'icient elevation for free entry therethrough of such pinend while in said alignment; such side being so diagonalv ly oriented with relation to the position of said aligned pin as to have such mound, to the extent approximately of its longest possiblespan across the same and also on a level with said alignment, overlap the complemental length of said pin-end projected at that level beneath its dome in consequence of its secured reach as aforementioned, and as to have such diagonal coverage taper off to the vanishing point for clearance therefrom of said pin-end as the same is flexed downwardly a sufficient distance from its normally aligned position; and protective means for shouldering the impact of such flexing operation, consisting of two vertically aligned pivots composed of miniature mounds, similarly drawn out of said material and located closely on the exterior side of the second of the apertures above mentioned and astride the normally aligned shank of said pin.

2. In a badge consisting of a thin sheet of resilient and transparent material having extended lengths beyond that for its front panel folded rearwardly at top and bottom to a plane parallel therewith for encasement therebetween of a card or the like for display purpose, and having mounted thereon a flexible common pin wovenly inserted in horizontal alignment respectively into and out of a complemental aperture at each end of a guiding archway for reach of its pointed end to a predetermined position secured by the abutment of its head against the edges of an outer slot at one end of said alignment,

a hollow and substantially semi-circular mound drawn upwardly out of said material at the opposite end of said alignment whose diametrical side is entirely open and of sufiicient elevation for free entry therethrough of such pin-end while in said alignment; such side being so diagonally oriented with relation to the position of said aligned pin as to have such mound, to the extent approximately of its longest possible span across the same and also on a level with said alignment, overlap the complemental length of said pin-end projected at that level beneath its dome in consequence of its secured reach as aforementioned, and as to have such diagonal coverage taper off to the vanishing point for clearance therefrom of said pin-end as the same is flexed downwardly a suflicient distance from its normally aligned position; protective means for shouldering the impact of such flexing operation, consisting of two vertically aligned pivots composed of miniature mounds, similarly drawn out of said material and located closely on the exterior side of the second of the apertures above mentioned and astride the normally aligned shank of said pin; and a third miniature mound of similar construction located below said pin-housing mound for limiting, up to the position of the former, the downward flexing of said pin-end after clearance from the latter.

3. The combination as described in claim 2 wherein an inner slot is spaced a slight distance from said outer slot in the path of said alignment, for similar abutment of the pinhead therein and the consequent projection of the pin-end a further distance beneath its receptive mound, commensurate with the distance between said slots and sufficient to keep it from such clearance upon any downward flexing of the pin-end from its normally aligned position.

4. The combination as described in claim 2 wherein compensatory means is provided in said badge for maintaining said card or its equivalent in tight position upon such encasement, where the former is of greater height than the latter so as to afiord ample leeway for endwise insertion of such card in said badge, consisting of a dent preferably in the edge of said upper fold sufiiciently deep to firmly contact the opposing edge of said card after such insertion has been effected.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,029,536 April 17, 1962 Louis W. Rosen It is hereby certified that error appears in the above numbered patent requiring correction and that the said Letters Patent should read as corrected below.

Column 1, line 43, for "edgewise' read endwise line 53, after "nevertheless" strike out the comma; line 70, for "amendable" read amenable column 4, line' 29, for "mound", second occurrence, read chamber line 30, for "chamber" read mound column 5, line 26, for "'1" read ll line 42, for "edgewise" read endwise Signed and sealed this 3rd day of July 1962.

ISEAL) Attest:

ERNEST w. SWIDER DAVID L LADD attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents 

